Big Sound Scotch Ale - Rum Barrel Aged | Cigar City Brewing

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Reviews by Alieniloquium:

750 mL bottle poured into a snifter. Reviewed from notes. I should preface this review by saying that I was fully aware of the infection before opening. It's difficult to review to style, as I thought that it tasted quite interesting, but clearly not to the scotch ale style.

Taste - Immediate tartness. Dry fruit of the apple persuasion. Tastes like an oud bruin. Dry bitterness and astringency with an odd finish.

Mouthfeel - Very dry and very light. High carbonation.

Overall - I find this to be drinkable. It's obviously not what was intended, but it has its merits. To style, it's awful. As a Flanders Red or an Oud Bruin, it could be passable. Not good, but passable.

More User Reviews:

Thanks to ericandersnavy for sharing this bottle. Drank in early December 2011.

The beer pours a very dark brown color with a tan head. The aroma is heavy on the rum and vanilla, with some dark fruit, chocolate and oak. The flavor is different and is showing signs of infection. There is a ton of tart dark fruit, with some chocolate, smoke, cranberry, vanilla and rum thrown in. Medium mouthfeel and medium carbonation. I wish we could have tried a non-infected version since I bet it would have been pretty tasty.

Yes I was looking for infection, but opened minded that this bottle could have been pure of taint.Nothing indicated from the aroma. From the taste however, Lactose comes out, it is weird. Syrupy, cherry. a bit medicinal. Where's the rum?
Horizontal tasting of Big Sound beers, thanks Tom.Good dark colour and head. Still drinkable, though altogether different from the style.

750ml bottle poured into a CCB Snifter. Figured I'd drink this while I had friends over, hate to drink an entire infected bottle by myself.

Pours an almost-black brown with mahogany highlights and a thin khaki-colored head that settles to a slight haze. Blergh, infection. This has the same cranberry and dirty pennies thing going on that I've tasted in numerous CCB brews, along with some oak, vanilla, and a hint of Rum. Taste is similarly off, more cranberry, cherry, malt, and oak. Mouthfeel is thin and fizzy, with too-high carbonation. We tried to soldier on and finish the bottle, but in the end this was a total drainpour, and total waste of $20. I know that it's impossible to tell what can happen to a beer in a barrel, but given the sheer number of infected beers I've had from CCB, I'm done. Not buying it anymore, and it's a shame since when they're good, they're GOOD (including the Bourbon Big Sound)!

Not too bad for an infection and not nearly as bad as some others I've had recently. Lots of nuttyness. Caramel/toffee with some fig character which IIRC all would come from the base beer. A nice tart cherry balances this out, but isn't overpowering. Actually a pretty good addition. Rum peaks in at the end to add a bit of a burn with some oak.

Infection definitely dried out this beer more than probably intended, but ok with me since I like dry beers. Fortunately even though it's not perfect mouthfeel the infection didn't thin it out too much or cause overcarbing.

Glad I sat on this for a while as it appears to be rounding into something drinkable if not intended. We all rather enjoyed this and if you just told me it was a dark sour, I wouldn't have batted an eye. A few issues due to the infection, but I've had many non-infected beers be much worse than this.

black as night dark oil color with a huge tan head that caps the top very nicely. Lots of smooth, chocolaty lacing drips down the sides and coats the entire glass with a thick wall of chocolate colored lacing.

The aroma is warming, boozy and full of tartness? didnt see that coming. wood, tobacco, and leather all coming forward, but driven back by this tart flavor, the warmer it gets the more fruit comes forward and the chocolate and leather like flavors fade.Really not sure what this is, was, but very interesting.

This bottle was sent as an extra by preismj, thanks Matt! I shared it at the FFF 15th Anniversary party with a few BAs.

It poured a pretty full bodied mop water brown in color with a slight beige lacing around the glass. The nose was really surprising. You didn't get the boat load of crystal malts that you do from the regular version. The chocolate malt aromas are completely absent. Instead you get this somewhat strange, green apple like tartness. I just didn't expect that. It's not offputting, just different. It makes me wonder which type of rum they used. The flavor too features a prominent amount of green apple and an interesting tartness. It really tastes nothing like the regular. You just don't get the malty sweetness that the original features. As it warms you get some slight sherry notes as well. It drinks full in body and coats the palate. Overall this is just an odd beer. It didn't feature any rum characteristics that I'm used to so my impression of this beer is that it missed the mark. It just has much apple, and apple skins to it yet not in a Calvados kind of way.

A- Slim pint glass pour. Dark red brown body with a foamy tan head forming to a few fingers with decent retention. A nice cloud and some good lace too.

S- Infected but very interesting. Smells like a Kriek. Tart cherries for sure and green apple sours. Really not much else but some nutty brown malts.

T- A bit more of the base beer here. Nutty brown caramel malts with some big raisins balance out the infection. A nice tart cherry flavor adds to it all. Really no rum to me this point but oak for sure.

Pours a murky brownish-amber color with a finger of off-white head. Strong smell of sour cherries. A bit of rum, wood, and vanilla, but the sourness is distracting. The sourness comes through on the palate as well, unfortunately. It really takes away from the malt flavors and overemphasizes the booze. On the thin side of medium bodied with significantly more carbonation than the bourbon.